Improvement in billiard-tables



.lie the one under the other.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIs A. GRILL, or NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN BILLIARD-TABLES.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIs A. GRILL, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Tables for Billiards and other Ball-Games, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming part of this speciication, and in which- Figure 1 represents a plan of a table-bed constructed in accordance with my invention, with certain details of which it is composed broken away for the purpose of illustrating parts that Fig. 2 is a transverse section taken as indicated by the line .c x in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 a similar view under a modied construction of the frame.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several figures.

The object of my invention is to construct a table or table-bed for billiards, bagatelle, and other ball-games, which shall be cheap as compared with marble, slate and wood-tables or table-beds for such purposes, shall be so light as to be capable of being easily moved from place to place, and yet shall possess in a high degree all the essential features or requisites, including truth, hardness, and durability, of a table for ballgames generally. To these ends, the invention consists in a table-bed which is composed, or for the most part, of a wooden frame, a plaster filling, and a paper covering stretched over said iillin g and frame.

. Referring to the accompanying drawing, A represents the wooden frame of a table-bed constructed in accordance with my invention. This frame is made or planed true and free from twist, and, under one mode of construction, has a wooden or other suitable bottom, B, fitted within or otherwise connected to it beneath to form a back. Upon the upper side of this bottom is arranged a tin-foil or other water-proof covering, c, to protect the bottom and frame from water or moisture incidental to the use of the plaster or other suitable filling, D, which is put in a wet state onto the bottom B, so as to entirely fill the frame A up to the level of its face, and with which it may be leveled or trued by a striker. After said plaster filling has set l dainpenand stretch a paper covering, E, preferably made of considerable thickness and secured at its edges to or over the frame A, so that when dry the tension consequent thereon will cause it to lie smoothly and iirm'ly upon the plaster and to iill any little inequalities in the latter, thereby forming a hard and smooth surface, as required. Said paper covering is afterward preferably coated on its eXterior with a rubber or any other suitable waterproof varnish, to prevent its absorption or moisture, and is subsequently covered by billiardcloth, F. If desired, the frame A may be beveled on its top, as represented in Fig. 3, so as to bring the plaster up to the outer edges of the frame, and thereby avoid all objectionable ridges at the junction of the plaster and frame.

Another mode of proceeding is, first to stretch the paper covering E over the front side or face of the frame A and then to turn the frame faceside downward onto 'any smooth level table or surface, and, after putting the tin-foil O into the frame on the under side of the paper, then to pour or put in the plaster iilling D, and subsequently to back the same with the wooden or other suitable bottom B. The paper is then varnished and covered as before.

One advantage of my invention, besides that of making the table cheap and light, is, that it does not require so heavy a frame or such heavy or so many supports. Vith a table of this con.- struction of ordinary size four legs are quite sufficient.

I do not claim a plaster or cement table-bed per se, or when covered with cloth or ilock; but

What is here claimed, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is-

In a billiard-table bed, the combination, with the frame A and paper covering E, of a illing of plaster or other suitable material supported on a bottom, B, substantially as described.

Witnesses: LOUIS A. GRILL.

FRED HAYNES, R. E. RABEAU. 

